Water covers more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface area and is essential to our survival. Each year in March we celebrate National Water Week to draw attention to the importance of water resources and our collective responsibility towards water conservation initiatives. This year, World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. The National Water [...]
On Friday 24th of February, the second batch of dead sharks (post Orca predation) were necropsied at the Marine Dyanmics Academy lodge, lead by PhD candidates Alison Towner and Ralph Watson. This brought the total number of sharks from the Sunday Pearly Beach interaction to 18 sharks, seventeen of which were Sevengill sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus) and one a small spotted Gully [...]
On Sunday 21st of February, the infamous pair of male orcas Port and Starboard, who are known to prey on several species of sharks in south Africa, were tracked by a team of scientists on board Marine Dynamics vessel. “We observed the two orcas repeatedly diving down in a small area, for almost two hours before they departed offshore” said Ralph [...]
On Saturday 31 December, the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary returned another 13 African penguins to their home on Dyer Island. A total of 215 chicks were removed since the beginning of November and hand-raised at the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS), a project of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. The removal of compromised and orphaned chicks is one of [...]
Earlier this week, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) responded to a report of a Ragged-tooth shark stranding in Franskraal at a well-known fishing hotspot. The shark was recovered by the team and transported to the DICT lodge. With the assistance of volunteers from the Marine Dynamics Academy, a necropsy was performed on the animal the following morning to determine the cause of death. The [...]
Help us rescue, feed and rehabilitate our 2022 batch of African penguin chicks. On Saturday 5 November, the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary - APSS, with the help of CapeNature retrieved 48 African penguin chicks from Dyer Island. Another 16 penguin chicks were removed from the island on Tuesday 8 November. The chicks are currently at the sanctuary where they will [...]
What do canned trophy hunting, deadly infectious diseases and Traditional Chinese Medicine have in common? Lions. The new investigative documentary, Lions, Bones & Bullets uncovers an elaborate, international wildlife fraud with an annual turnover of nearly 100 million U.S. dollars. On Tuesday 1 November, Marine Dynamics and Dyer Island Conservation Trust, hosted our final Marine Evening for 2022, with the screening [...]
On 5 April, Dyer Island Conservation Trust received an email from Leon Kriel, who spends his weekends with his retired folks in Pearly Beach. According to Leon, “Pearly Beach is where I find peace of mind; I was 5 months old when my parents took me camping for the first time. And it’s at this exact campsite, where my parents met [...]
International Coastal Clean-up Day on September 17 is a promise to bring cleanliness and purity to nature as a whole. The day was started as a way to raise awareness about the growing pollution on various beaches of the world. Population growth and capitalism are just two of the main factors that have led to severely high levels of pollution in [...]
Audience attending the Marine Evening On Tuesday 6 September, the Great White House and Marine Dynamics hosted the monthly Marine Evening again, the first time since lockdown in Kleinbaai. The venue was packed with visitors from all over the Overstrand, excited to listen to the guest speakers, scientists from the Tuberculosis Research Group at Stellenbosch University. Team leader Dr [...]
